chow meaning (slang): definition, etymology and quotations

chow

verbalso spelled Chow

UK /t͡ʃaʊ/

Etymology Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc.

noun

/t͡ʃaʊ/

Etymology From Cantonese 周 (zau¹).

A Chow Chow (Chinese breed of dog).

Colin was a Chow; an interesting Chinese breed that looks a bit like a Pomeranian on steroids[.]2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, page 153:

noun

Etymology Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc.

Slang, Usually Food, especially snacks.

I'm going to pick up some chow for dinner.
Donlon says, "Well, we're rich and we got beaucoup beer and beaucoup chow. Now all we need is the Bob Hope show."1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 93:

Trinidad and Tobago, Usually Unripe, or partially ripened, fruit seasoned and served as a dish, e.g. pineapple chow or mango chow.

Usually A Chow Chow.

‘I'd try and grapple with him myself, only I've got my chow in my room, you know, and he goes for pigs wherever he finds them.’1914, Saki, ‘The Lull’, Beasts and Superbeasts:
While we were talking, one of the chows, the rusty one, had come over to me and I was absently petting him.1988 March 4, Jane Weinberg, “First Person: Me and Georgia O'Keeffe”, in Chicago Reader:

Australia, Archaic, Slang, Usually A Chinese person.

These were the creatures Nawnim had been amazed to see about him on the day of his arrival. When he inquired about them, Anna told him they were Japs an' Chows.1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter V, in Capricornia, page 74:
‘Now look here old man if you should ever bump into an interesting Chow from over the river – one with access, follow me? – just you remember High Haven!’1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 11:

Derived terms: bunny chow, chow call, chow down, chow gun, chow hall, chowhound, chowline, chowtime, midnight chow

verb

Etymology Phono-semantic matching of Chinese 吃 (chī, literally “to eat”), influenced by the “food” sense of Etymology 1 above.

Board games, Games, Mahjong To call a discarded tile to produce a chow.

[…] while the adversary on his right will repeatedly bury in the discard the very tiles he wishes to chow but can't.2007, Eleanor Noss Whitney, A Mah Jong Handbook: How to Play, Score, and Win, page 154:

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Chinese 州 (zhōu).

A prefecture or district of the second rank in China, or the chief city of such a district.

noun

Etymology Phono-semantic matching of Chinese 吃 (chī, literally “to eat”), influenced by the “food” sense of Etymology 1 above.

Board games, Games, Mahjong A run of three consecutive tiles of the same suit.

Board games, Games, Mahjong A call for forming such a run using a discarded tile.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for chow and Chow.